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EUROPE'S MOST VISITED SF/F WEB SITE |
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The Mammoth Book Of Science Fiction edited
by Mike Ashley
Picking out favourites will have to be based on this reviewer’s taste. ‘Fire Watch’ by Connie Willis is one I’ve seen before but captures that time travel moment of living in the London blitz of WW2. The very much under-rated Colin Kapp’s ‘The Pen And The Dark’ shows a classic example of lateral thinking when dealing with the unknown. ‘Except My Life3’ by John Morressy is a private cloned-detective-cum-dragnet voiced story with a novel twist in the tale. Clifford Simek’s ‘A Death In The House’ deals with the consequences when a farmer has an alien die on him and wants him left buried than investigated. The hysterically funny ‘A Ticket To Tranai’ by Robert Sheckley shows that a planet where utopia is in the eye of the beholder. What is rather odd is that all these stories come under ‘and many others’ on the book cover not the ones the publisher thinks will sell the book. I think it would have made more sense had editor Ashley to have spread the themes throughout the book rather than clump them together. As commented above, it draws too much comparison in material qualitity. On the other hand, if it attracts younger readers to read some of the older authors that might not be a bad thing. If you like anthologies, then I think you’ll be adding this one to your collection. GF Willmetts check out website: www.constablerobinson.com
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OTHER REVIEWS - April 2002
NEW NOVELS The
Mammoth Book Of Science Fiction edited by Mike Ashley Carolan’s
Concerto by Caiseal Mór
The
One Kingdom (War Book 1) by Sean Russell
Antrax
(The Voyage Of Jerle Shannara Book 2) by Terry Brooks
The
Time Tunnel by Murray Leinster
Celtika
(The Merlin Codex Book 1) by Robert Holdstock Wizard’s
Funeral (The Red Pavillions Book 2) by Kim Hunter
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This
22 SF short story anthology has a little of everything for everyone.
Authors from the turn of the previous century right up to the present
day. The stories are in blocks with 3 or 4 dealing with cloning,
time travel, utopias, aliens etc. 
The
oddest thing about it is the older writers were far better storytellers
than the most recent and there is one hell of a range of authors
here from Aldiss to Hamilton. With a couple exceptions, a lot of
these stories don’t appear regularly in anthologies. The selection
is also varied enough to not to have a book change for a pace change
and at a price everyone can afford.
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